The Gutians (also: Quti, Kuti, Gurti, Qurti, Kurti) were a people of
ancient Mesopotamia who lived primarily in the central Zagros Range, most
probably an Aryan people. They were a strong political force throughout
the 3rd and 2nd millennia.

The Gutian kings came to power in Mesopotamia circa the 22nd century BC
(short chronology) by destabilising Akkad at the end of the reign of
Shar-kali-sharri. The last Gutian king was Tirigan, who was preceded by 21
kings, reigning roughly a total of one century (estimates vary between 80
and 120 years, with 91 years often quoted as probable). The dynasty was
succeeded by the 3rd dynasty of Ur.

History
In the time of the Akkadian Empire, one prominent nomad tribe were the
Guti, who lived in the Zagros Mountains. A generation after Naram-Sin's
death, the Guti saw their chance. The weak successors of the king were
fighting among themselves for the throne, and various provinces were in
revolt and eager for nomad help. The Guti swept down, defeated the
demoralized Akkadian army, took Agade and destroyed it about 2215 BC. The
Empire became theirs.

Agade was so thoroughly destroyed that, alone of all the Mesopotamian
capitals, its site is still not known. The Guti proved to be poor rulers.
Under their crude rule, prosperity declined. They were too unused to the
complexities of civilization to organize matters properly, particularly in
connection with the canal network. This was allowed to sink into
disrepair, with famine and death resulting. Thus a short "dark age" swept
over Mesopotamia.

Akkad bore the brunt of this, for it was Akkad that had been the center of
the Empire and bore the prestige of its tradition, so that it was in Akkad
that the Guti established their own center in place of the destroyed Agade.
Some of the Sumerian cities in the south took advantage of the safety of
distance and purchased a certain amount of self-government by paying
tribute to the new rulers.

Uruk got along under its 4th Dynasty and Ur under its 2nd Dynasty. The
most remarkable ruler of the Gutian period was the governor of Lagash,
Gudea. Under him about 2150 BC, Lagash had a golden age.

After a few kings, Gutian rulers quickly became more cultivated. They
probably even strove to become more Akkadian than the Akkadians, since
they had a nomadic ancestry to live down. Thus their rule ended by
absorption, as it did for so many nomadic conquerors. Frequently though,
such absorption isn't enough, the Guti lasted only about a century. At
about 2120 BC, they were expelled from Mesopotamia by the rulers of Uruk
and Ur. From this point on the Guti's disappear from history.

Language
Most linguists believe that the Guti spoke an Indo-European language. The
fact that the Guti belonged to the Indo-Iranians, is confirmed by their
language, which is attested mainly by personal names and king list.
According to them the Guti spoke an Indo-European language, which was
close to the Tokharian languages.

Kurdish hypothesis
The Kurdish people have been identified as descendants of the ancient
Gutians by some scholars. The very name 'Kurd' itself has been speculated
by scholars as being derived from the name 'Guti'. Thus, Howorth (1901)
concurs with the derivation of Kurdistan from Gutium, and identifies the
ancient Babylonian term for Kurds, Khuradi or Quradu, with Guti.

Eric Jensen (1996) states: "The thirty million Kurds of the Middle East
have lived in Kurdistan before record of modern history was kept. The very
first mention of the Kurds in history was about 3,000 BC, under the name
Gutium, as they fought the Sumerians (Spieser). Later around 800 BC, the
Indo-European Median tribes settled in the Zagros mountain region and
coalesced with the Gutiums, and thus the modern Kurds speak a language
related to Aryan languages (Morris)."
"The land of Guti answers in substance, and perhaps also in name, to the
modern Kurdistan. According to Sayce the name Kurd is derived from the
Babylonian quradu, 'a warrior,' a word which was borrowed by the people of
Van. In the forms of 'khuradi' and 'quradu' it is given as the equivalent
of 'gut' in an inscription published by Rawlinson. 'Gut' or 'Guti,' we are
told, means a 'bull' in the primitive language of Chaldea, and the name
Gutium, used by this early people, was borrowed from a Semitic language
(probably Babylonian) which possessed the case-ending in 'um.'" (Howorth
1901, ftn. p.32)
"The Kurds are a native, non-Arab people who have lived in the Middle East
for thousands of years. Their name derives from the ancient Guti (Guti-Gurti-Kurdi),
conquerors of Babylon. They were the non-Semitic Hurrians of Mesopotamia
and the Medes of Persian history. Their home covers mountainous regions
now part of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and other countries as well. But
the heartland of ancient Gutium, the domain of later autonomous Kurdish
mirs, had been in what is now-- thanks to the British-- Arab Iraq." (Honigman
2003)